Antiquiera, Pesina no longer Treñas allies?
Much has definitely changed in the Sangguniang Panlungsod since the last elections in May to the present time, including, of course, its composition. For one, some of those who ran with Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas in the last electoral exercise seem to be the ones now highly-critical of his every move while those from the other political group have become his staunch supporters.
Take the case of Kagawads Eldrid Antiquiera and Antonio Pesina, who were with Treñas in the Lakas-CMD group in the last elections. A few weeks back, both threatened to haul the city chief executive in court for awarding to a private contractor the P1.5-million contract for the demolition of the old City Hall building without authority from the city legislature.
In last Wednesday's regular session of the city council, the two were once again at the forefront of the questioning, this time on the status of Arch. Willy Coscolluela's 'relationship' with the city government relative to the upcoming construction of the P378.98-million new city hall building.
First to take the floor was Antiquiera, who asked his colleagues if Coscolluela had already been hired by the city government as consultant for the construction of the eight-story government center "because if he has already been hired, then it should have undergone bidding as mandated by Republic Act 9184."
To answer the question, Councilor Perla Zulueta stood to inform the body that there is no relationship yet between the city government and Coscolluela. "As far as I understand, Arch. Coscolluela provided the proposed design for the project free of charge because he is an Ilonggo and he wants to contribute to the development of the city of Iloilo."
"But later, if we decide to hire his firm as project consultant, certainly the consultancy service contract would undergo regular bidding processes," the Iron Lady of the City Council further averred.
It was also learned from Zulueta that the city government provides for Coscolluela's travel expenses and accommodations whenever he goes to Iloilo City to confer with city officials on the project.
Antiquiera, however, appears uncomfortable with the fact that the city government is paying for Coscolluela's plane tickets and accommodations in going here that he actually asked where the mayor is getting the money for it.
"Where did the money for Coscolluela's travel expenses and accommodations come from?" he queried.
At this point, Councilor Jose Espinosa III, chairman of the SP Committee on Appropriations, took the floor to tell Antiquiera that such questions of his are better addressed to the mayor than propounded in the halls of the city council.
"I believe you should be propounding such questions to the mayor, not before this august body, because it is the city chief executive who could best provide you with the answers for them," Espinosa averred, to which Vice Mayor Jed Mabilog agreed.
"Well, I only raised the issue for purposes of discussion," Antiquiera quipped before taking his seat.
Pesina, for his part, said he cannot understand why the August 3 letter of Pacific-Orient Consultants and Management Co., Inc. general manager Conrado P. Goco to Coscolluela informing the latter of the budgetary estimate for the new city hall project had found its way to the agenda.
"Why is it that a private communication between two firms was included in the agenda when clearly we don't have anything to do with it? And why is it that the mayor entertained an unsigned letter? That is the issue here," Pesina quipped aloud.
Again, Zulueta took the floor to 'enlighten' her colleagues on the issue at hand.
"The reason why this matter was included in the agenda and eventually referred to an SP committee is because there was an endorsement coming from Mayor Treñas. As to the question whether why Mr. Goco did not sign his letter to Arch. Coscolluela, you would have had the opportunity to ask him exactly that had you attended the meeting we had with them. But you were not there so you were not able to ask him that. Worse, you prefer asking such questions here when those that could answer them are not here," Zulueta said, already showing some signs of irritation with the kind of questions being propounded on the floor.